New York to Leadworth
by betawho
Summary: How did Melody Pond get from that alley in 1960's New York, to Leadworth in the 1990's?


"Rory, Amy, I know where to find your daughter, and on my _life _she will be safe."

He could hear Amy and Rory protesting as he took down the forcefield and entered the Tardis. He stepped outside again, and looked back, at River, standing there, by his cradle.

His hearts swelled so much he couldn't contain his giddiness. He pointed at her, he couldn't believe it. He wanted to dance. He slammed the door.

He did dance, all the way up to the console. River, his River, was a Pond! A beautiful, glorious Pond!

And now with the information he'd gotten from the Church's databanks, and the DNA information he'd gotten from Dorium, he could track her.

The girl, the little girl, he knew he'd run across her again. His River. He did a little hop-skip step as he entered the coordinates for 1960's Earth, Florida.

That's where they'd taken her, must have been, the orphanage, but she'd got away. But now he could track her! One little girl out of all the humans on Earth. One little girl with Time Lord DNA!

Ooh! He rubbed his hands together and set the detectors, she couldn't have got far.

The Tardis drifted back through time, exited the vortex, then suddenly the detectors flared. Regeneration energy! No! It... he checked the date readings... it wasn't even a year later. She was still a child. Too young! It was dangerous for children to regenerate, even on Gallifrey!

He hastily slammed in the coordinates and spiraled down to Earth. He landed with a thump in a side street. The coordinates said it was 2 a.m. He stepped outside the Tardis, medical tracker held out in front of him, he looked around, getting his bearings. A large yellow sign said he was on 144th Street.

The tracker pinged, he turned to follow the sound, and was almost mowed over by a panicked black man. The man bounced off him, eyes wide, he was pointing behind him. "Are you okay?" the Doctor asked. The man's eyes just got wider and he ran off.

The Doctor stared after him, a bit worried, then turned and followed the tracker pings to the alley the man had been pointing toward.

He stuck his head down around the corner, "Hello? Anyone there?" He edged slowly out around the dumpster. The tracker pinged in his hand. There was nothing in the alleyway but an old trolley, garbage cans and a pile of rags in the middle of the pavement.

It started crying.

"No. Oh, no, no, no," he rushed forward. The rags moved. It was a filthy gingham dress, something small struggled within it, he pulled aside the dirty ragged cardigan. A small, coffee brown face looked up at him, huge brown eyes, and frizzy black curls, the eyes welled up and spilled over. His hearts crashed in his chest.

The toddler cried, and held up short chubby arms. Confused, scared. No doubt suffering from post-regenerative crisis.

He scooped her up, right out of the dress and the now oversized shoes. A perfectly adorable little brown baby that grabbed hold of his braces and wouldn't let go. She snuggled her head into his chest and burrowed tight, stubborn, strong, and determined, he held her fiercely, curling her close.

"I won't let anything happen to you. I promise. I swear!" She hiccuped, then seemed to relax and fall asleep against his chest. Her little fists stayed clamped around his braces.

He turned in a confused circle. There was no one else around. Nothing but a pile of ragged clothes. No adults demanding explanations. No Church soldiers. No Silence. He stared down at his arms and hands, looking for hashmarks. Nothing. Thank goodness.

He gripped the child tightly to his chest and walked out of the alley, leaving everything behind. Trying to look casual.

He rushed into the Tardis and slammed the door behind him. Safe!

He carried the child up to the dais. "We're going to take you to your parents, little Melody," he whispered. "You're going to have a mum and dad. They'll be so glad to have found you."

He carefully set the child on one of the jump seats. He had to pry her hands off his braces. It took some doing, she was stronger than she looked. He laid his jacket over her, she'd come up out of her old clothes as naked as the day she was born. He tucked in his jacket around her. She had a black curl caught in the corner of her mouth, he gently pried it away. He'd seen his wife chew on her curls when she was thinking.

He stroked a finger down her sweet chubby cheek, she had beautiful coffee and cream skin. Amy and Rory were going to love her to death.

_Amy and Rory!_ Leadworth, 2011. He spun and ran over to the console, eagerly setting coordinates.

He pulled the dematerialization lever, he watched the toddler as they dematerialized, quickly hitting the blue stabilizers so she wouldn't be thrown around. She squirmed, and whimpered a bit, as if she could feel the time energy moving through the Tardis, but she didn't wake up. Just as well, it was best if she didn't remember this.

The Tardis bucked, and started to materialize. The Doctor rushed over, skidding on the floor, arms out to catch, but the child didn't fall. She seemed glued to the chair. He stopped and looked up at the rotor. "You're keeping her safe?"

He felt a brush across the back of his mind, a whispered non-voice. Of course the Tardis would keep her safe, this was her River.

He rushed back to the console and checked the readings, trying to figure out why the stabilizers hadn't worked.

"Leadworth, 1991."

"No. No, no, no. That's too early. We have to get this right." He reset the coordinates, adding an override. He dematerialized.

The Tardis materialized with a thump.

"Leadworth, 1991."

"What? What are you doing?" he demanded of his temperamental time machine. "We need to go forward, Amy's time." He set the coordinates, reached under the console and pulled out a module. He soniced it, peeking around to check on the child. She was still asleep, her bottom poked in the air under his jacket. He grinned, but went back to manually wiring in the coordinates. He reinserted the module and pulled the dematerialization lever.

The Tardis took longer this time, she did a full orbit of the Earth, slipped in and out of the vortex, then landed with a thump.

"Ah hah!" he laughed triumphantly. Then pulled the monitor around.

"Leadworth. 1991."

He stepped back. He glowered up at the console. "What are you trying to tell me?"

He looked over at the babe. One little brown foot peeked out from under his jacket. "We can't keep her in the Tardis. We can't raise her ourselves. You _know _what kind of paradoxes that would cause."

The Tardis thumped down again, spontaneously dematerializing and rematerializing.

"Leadworth. 1991."

The words blinked boldly.

The Doctor felt the air slowly leak out of him. "I promised Amy I'd bring her baby back to her," he said, despairingly.

The Tardis groaned a long low moan.

"But we _can't_," the Doctor said, tears starting in his eyes. "I promised Amy. I promised _River_."

He looked over at the child, silky black curls showed just above his jacket top. He felt his hearts tearing in two. "We can't."

The Tardis monitor came on. Outside it showed a nighttime scene. A door lit up by a single light overhead. A heavy red brick building with lots of institutional windows. Overhead, in the masonry, were the words, "Leadworth Children's Home."

"We _can't!_" the Doctor said, almost crying now.

The Tardis groaned, long and deep.

The Doctor wrapped his arms around himself. He rocked. He looked over at the tiny life lying in the Tardis chair, wrapped in his jacket, one little hand peeked out. His hand flew up to his neck. Somehow, without him noticing, she'd pulled off his bow tie.

He looked at the strip of his bow tie, in that little fist, and remembered how River had stroked it, the first time she kissed him. "Are you sure," he whirled and demanded of the Tardis. His voice broke on a sob.

The Tardis lights dimmed, the image of the home flickered on the monitor.

If it had been anyone else telling him this, he would have fought tooth and nail. His hearts tore a little more. But the Tardis didn't exist in just one time, but across all time. If she was telling him this, then there had to be a reason. And this was her River, her child. Even when she'd thought she was dying, her last words had been about River.

He looked at the Tardis, then looked at the babe, then ran out of the console room. His sob echoed back down the corridor.

He came back into the console room carrying a baby blanket. He walked over to the console and pulled out a piece of paper from an alcove, and a pencil. He wrote a quick note.

He went and unwound his jacket from the babe, put it back on and coaxed his bow tie out of her fierce grip. He wound it back around his neck and tied it, trying not to think.

He picked the child up and wrapped her in the baby blanket. He tucked the note in his pocket and hugged her close.

He walked down the stairs toward the door, feeling as if every bone in his body ached.

He whispered in her tiny ear, as her head lay trustingly on his chest. "Find your parents. They're close. You've seen your mum, your dad won't be far away. It might take a long time, but find them."

He carried her outside, looked both ways, it was late, no one was around. He sprinted across the road, the child was starting to wake up.

He set her down under the lighted archway, protected from the wind. He attached the note to her blanket, gave her a kiss on the forehead, pushed the doorbell, and ran.

The door opened and a middle aged woman peered out. She looked up and down the street but saw no one. She didn't notice the blue police box across the street in the dark.

She looked down at the tiny black girl standing, rubbing her eyes on her doorstep, wrapped in a baby blanket with Marvin the Martian firing his ray gun all over it. There was a note pinned to her chest.

"This is Melody. Keep her safe."

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